Call Center Onboarding Becomes More Challenging in Remote Work Environments

As the world still struggles to cope with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, much of it is experiencing labor shortages: from truck drivers to supermarket workers to healthcare workers. Call centers are no exception, and it has been a mighty struggle for them to keep to required staffing levels for a good customer experience.

For this reason, many call centers will need to step up their hiring and training practices in order to replace lost personnel and maintain service levels, according to a recent article by Peter Appleby writing for Nearshore Americas.

“If mass resignations do occur over the next year, then mass recruitment will also be needed, and if companies are to hang onto their most valuable hires – particularly in highly-competitive markets like tech – then their onboarding policies must be on point,” he wrote.

While many contact centers have adapted by having existing workers work from home – now easily possible thanks to cloud-based call center solutions – it’s harder to virtualize the hiring and training processes.

“Rather than a friendly first meeting and a quick tour of on-site premises to meet the team, new employees are now being given a far shallower video meeting experience or, in the worst cases, simply being left to their own devices,” wrote Appleby.

In addition, virtual work and a lack of contact with coworkers is making it harder to train and retain workers, since call centers often rely on a “buddy system” of training and support in physical call centers. Mentoring is a strong asset that can get lost when the mentor is simply text on the other end of a message. Call center work has always been difficult and stressful, but without contact with supervisors and employees, many workers may be throwing in the towel even earlier than they would have done in a physical call center.

Successful companies are rethinking training for the remote situation, finding ways to both build the brand’s reputation among workers, as well as getting employees to engage with the companies they work for.

Edited by Luke Bellos